New Paltz faces 10-week water shutoff in 2016 due to NYC aqueduct repairs

Monday

May 13, 2013 at 2:00 AM

NEW PALTZ — Add water supply to the political problems and concerns bubbling up in the Village of New Paltz.

BY JEREMIAH HORRIGAN

NEW PALTZ — Add water supply to the political problems and concerns bubbling up in the Village of New Paltz.

The reason: The village's main water supply will be turned off for at least 10 weeks in 2016 and 2017, and that's the sort of change that can't be addressed at the last minute.

And so Mayor Jason West finds himself dealing with a situation that has an ultimate impact both far in the future and long-lasting — the kind of project that proceeds mostly outside a disinterested public's view.

New York City's Department of Environmental Protection, which administers the city's vast water supply, is in the early stages of rehabilitating the Catskill Aqueduct that is the village's main water source.

The DEP plans to shut down the aqueduct to perform major repairs in the fall of 2016 and 2017 as part of a decade-long project aimed at ensuring and improving the continued quality and flow of water to the city.

The village has to come up with a backup water supply plan in time for the shut-down.

So far, it has not.

Its current backup supply — four small ponds located off Mountain Rest Road, aren't sufficient to the 10-week task.

During a drought, the village draws 80 percent of its water from the aqueduct, West said.

During rainy periods, it is able to reverse that usage, using the aqueduct for 20 percent of its supply.

With that in mind, the DEP has already spent $130,000 seeking out and drilling test wells in the neighborhood.

West said last week he and the village's Kingston engineering firm, Brinnier & Larios, are exploring alternatives. The process has been, and promises to continue to be, as slow-moving as a drain that's been clogged for years.

One solution — a pipeline to Ireland Corners in Gardiner — is one multimillion-dollar possibility.

One stumbling block: West is convinced the village can't afford, and won't pay for, a backup water source.

He points to the DEP's willingness to fund its Watershed Protection Program, which serves hundreds of residents living in rural watershed areas.

"DEP spends more on paper clips than our entire budget," West said.

DEP spokesman Adam Bosch, noting that New Paltz is not part of the aqueduct's watershed, said "it's way too early" to be talking about such things until a new water source is discovered and agreed upon.